ID acquires Joe Arpaio doc “The Joe Show”

Investigation Discovery has acquired Randy Murray's feature doc The Joe Show (pictured), set an air date for A Question of Innocence, and greenlit Hate In America.

Investigation Discovery (ID) has a trio of documentaries on the horizon.

The Discovery Communications-owned U.S. cable network has acquired the The Joe Show (pictured), a documentary about controversialArizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, produced by Randy Murray Productions.

The network will air the film, which recently screened at Hot Docs in Toronto, in the fourth quarter, following its festival and theatrical run.

“I decided to use the story of Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his incredible successes as a case study that shows how the mutual dependency between democracy and the media has deteriorated to a point where neither is serving the public good,” said Randy Murray, the film’s director and executive producer, in a statement.

“Instead of simply making the portrait of a man, I chose to create a film that asks: Can democracy survive when entertaining the public becomes more important than protecting them?”

Elsewhere, on Friday (July 11), ID will air the original death row doc A Question of Innocence. The film examines the case of Tommy Zeigler, who has spent four decades on Florida’s death row and is pushing for a retrial in the face of governor Rick Scott’s campaign to accelerate the schedule of upcoming executions.

The doc will air as part of the net’s ‘ID Films’ strand. It narrated by actor Bruce Greenwood and was produced by Mystique Films.

The network has also greenlit Hate In America, a one-hour special featuring journalist and Al Jazeera America anchor Tony Harris that explores modern-day racism in the United States and its impact on race relations. The doc is being produced by NBC News’ production arm Peacock Productions and will premiere in early 2015.

Meanwhile, ID has set an August 13 air date for previously announced series Heartbreakers featuring 1990s stars Kevin Sorbo, Antonio Sabato Jr. and Jack Wagner; and will premiere the current affairs program Vanity Fair Confidential in the fourth quarter of this year.